Ethan's grip on his pistol tightened, his instincts screaming that this was about to go from bad to worse. He had faced dangerous men before, but something about this o a chill down his spine, a certain ess that masked something far more sinister. He had no idea who the man was, but judging by the deference of the Syndicate soldiers around him, this wasn't just any ander.

  The man took a slow step forward, his boots eg through the dimly lit tunnel. "Ah, I see you're tense. Uandable. I've been told I have that effe people." His smile widened, cold and sharp, as he g Malek before turning his eyes back to Ethan. "But rex... it'll be over soon."

  Ethan's jaw ched behind the protective visor of his helmet. He didn't like this. The way this guy spoke, it was as if they had already lost.

  "I'm Raeth," the man finally introduced himself, his tone dripping with sarcastic politeness. "And I have to say, I've been waiting for this moment. You two have caused quite a bit of trouble, haven't you?" His eyes flicked to the rubble of the tunnel behind them, the remnants of their struggle to get here. "But no matter. We'll fix that."

  He raised his hands in mock surrender, stepping back slightly. "Before we get into it, though, I have a question." Raeth's voice lowered, his smile curling into something darker, more malicious. "Ever wondered what it feels like to be buried alive?"

  Ethan's muscles tensed, but his helmet's advanced filtration and breathing systems kept his breathing steady, his air pure. His HUD was calm, trag Raeth's movements, sing for any sign of explosives. But still, a chill ran through him.

  Raeth didn't wait for an answer. In one swift motion, his hand slipped into his coat, pulling out a small device. He held it up between his thumb and forefihe dull glint of the detonator catg the weak light from the overhead bulb. His eyes gleamed with sadistic pleasure as he tilted his head, watg their reas with twisted amusement.

  "Because you're about to find out."

  The click of the button echoed through the tunnel.

  Before Ethan could react, the grouh him exploded. His helmet dampehe noise, redug the deafening roar to a muffled thundercp, but the force of the explosion still hit him like a sledgehammer, throwing him and Malek back. The ceiling groaned and began to colpse, ks of rod metal crashing down as the tunnel imploded.

  Ethan hit the ground hard, his helmeted head smming into the rocky floor. The HUD flickered for a sed before recalibrating, dispying rapidly ging structural iy warnings. The world around him was chaos, debris crashing down, and the tunnel filling with dust. But his breathing remaieady, ued by the dust clouds swirling through the tuhanks to his helmet shielding him from the immediate suffog danger.

  "Ethan!" Malek's voice crackled through his s, faint but clear inside his helmet.

  Ethan groaned, f himself to move. His HUD highlighted Malek's figure a few meters ahead, his friend pulling himself up, battered but alive. The ceiling above them groaned ominously, ready to give way at any moment.

  "Stay low!" Ethan barked over the s, pushing himself to his feet, his suit's servos whirring as they pensated for the strain. His visor ainted with warnings: structural colpse immi, danger zones mapped out in red as more debris fell around them.

  From the settling dust, a shape emerged. Raeth, calmly standing amid the destru, his sadistic smile still pstered on his face. He hadn't moved an inch, watg them like a predator toying with its prey. The colpsing tunnel didn't faze him. He had phis perfectly, and now he was enjoying every sed of it.

  "I have to admit," Raeth called out over the rumble of falling rocks, his voinervingly casual, "I didn't expect you to make it this far. But here we are."

  Ethan's grip tightened on his pistol as he goward Malek, whose eyes were already sing for a. But there was hey were surrounded on all sides by the colpsing walls, and Raeth's grin only grew wider.

  Raeth gestured casually with the detonator still in his hand. "You could try shooting me, I suppose. But the way this pce is ing down, I'm afraid you'd only speed things up. You might want to save those st few breaths for something more important."

  Ethahe tension in his body coil like a spring, but he held his fire. His suit's systems were w overtime, mapping out potential escape routes, but the odds were grim. The tunnel was falling apart faster than they could react.

  "Where's your way out?" Ethan growled through his helmet, trying to stall, trying to think. There had to be something, a gap iunnel, a er they hadn't explored. Some ce to survive.

  Raeth ughed, the sound distorted through the dust-filled air but still cold and hollow. "Way out? Oh, there is one. But I'm afraid it's not meant for you." He took a step back, his form dissolving into the dust and shadows. "Enjoy your tomb."

  And with that, Raeth disappeared into the chaos.

  Ethan's HUD flickered red. More danger zones, more structural failures. The tunnel wasn't just colpsing; it was imploding. He had minutes, maybe seds before everything came down.

  "Ethan, we need a way out, now!" Malek's voice came through the s, desperate but focused.

  "I know," Ethan snapped, his mind rag. He sed the tunnel, his helmet systems log onto the weakest point in the ceiling. There, above them. If they could bst through, they might just make it to the surface. It was a slim ce, but it was all they had.

  "Charges," Ethan barked. "That ceiling. It's our only shot."

  Malek didn't argue. He reached into his pad pulled out two explosives, his hands moving with quick, practiced efficy as he set the charges against the oihan had highlighted.

  "We don't have much time," Malek warned as he finished setting the explosives.

  Ethan nodded, his visor trag the timer. "We'll make it."

  The charges detonated with a deafening roar, even through Ethan's helmet, and the tunnel shuddered violently. But instead of g in, the ceiling cracked open, revealing a sliver of daylight above them. The explosion had worked.

  "Move!" Ethan shouted, grabbing Malek by the arm as the tunnel tio crumble around them.

  They sprioward the opening, dodging falling debris as the tunnel gave way behind them. Ethan could feel the ground shudder beh his feet, hear the rumble of the colpsing walls through the muted atmosphere of his helmet. He reached the jagged hole first, pulling himself up with the aid of his suit's enharength. Malek followed close behind, his breath ragged in the s, but alive.

  With a final heave, they both tumbled onto the surface, gasping for air as the tunnel below them finally gave way, colpsiirely. Dust billowed up from the hole, but Ethan's breathing remaieady, filtered and trolled through his helmet. He y back, staring up at the sky, his chest heaving with exhaustion.

  For a moment, everything was still. The roar of the colpsing tunnel faded into the distance, and the only sou was the quiet hum of their breathing iheir suits. They were alive—but barely.

  "That was… too close," Malek muttered, his voice crag through the s.

  Ethan sat up, his mind already rag ahead. They had survived Raeth's trap, but the bastard had slipped through their fingers.